Comparison of FBAR and QCM-D sensitivity dependence on adlayer thickness and viscosity

Unlike the quartz crystal microbalance, which has been used extensively for the analysis of biochemical interactions, only few measurements with biochemical adsorbent have been done with film bulk acoustic resonators (FBAR). In this paper, the FBAR behaviour on exposure to a lipid vesicle solution and the formation of a polyelectrolyte multilayer structure is investigated and compared with the results obtained with the quartz crystal microbalance. Differences in the resonator response were found between the two techniques and depending on the resonators resonance frequency ranging from the MHz to the GHz regime. As an explanation, we suggest that the penetration depth and the influence on viscoelastic properties, which are both known to be frequency dependent, cause the variations in the results. As a consequence, the higher operating resonance frequencies of the FBAR increase the sensitivity to changes in the viscoelasticity of the adsorbent and also decrease the sensing length of the device.